Benvenuto alla MezzoBloppo

It's the fifteenth, which means the Blopathon is officially half over. (Kudos to Eden for choosing a month with 30 days, as 30 is soothingly decile and divisible, whereas 31 is prime and obstinate.) How're you feeling out there, Bloppernutters? Are you feeling the burn?

For me, there's a lot of good coming out of this exercise. It's conjuring wonderful memories of the brambles of my youth, when I wrote a panel cartoon every weekday for the college newspaper. Whenever Scribbler's Block had me by the short-and-curlies, my "process" involved 1) hanging out in the graphics office, 2) shotgunning cheap beer, and 3) throwing X-acto knives, ninja-style, at whatever was tacked to the back of the door. This poster was up for a long time, and I never went home without taking all four of them out with consecutive throws. I was good. I could have gone pro.

Blopping daily conjures that manic, mental nimbleness that I had back then, and the buzz has energized me. Before the Blopathon, for example, I used to pass out on the couch each night at around 9:30. Now, I'm a dynamo. I can often stay alert until 10:15.

The immediacy of daily blopping means I don't linger over posts nearly as much. I think it, I type it, and out it goes. And my prodigious inner censor is lying on the canvas, because I nailed him with a right cross.

Feels pretty good.

Comments

[Melissa]

I think I've started putting one thought out there at a time and my posts flow a little better, but that may just be what I think I'm doing. But I have considered waving the white flag a few times. Next week will be the real challenge.

I will say, I enjoy reading your post everyday. Way cooler than once a week.

[Kyranp]

it's funny, we must be in the endorphin zone. last week I was thinking, can't...hold...on....much....longer....this morning I was all tappity-tap.

Manic, YES! Not sure if it's in a good way.

Not sure I'm ready to dance a jig over the crucified body of my inner critic, either. I have noticed that my traffic has risen proportionately to the decrease in the quality of my writing.

Interesting. I may never blog again after November 30.

[Ki Ki Marcus]

Um. Yeah. I had two cop-out days where I basically showed up and said "Here I am. I showed up. Goodbye."

I'm not entirely sure those counted. Does it matter that we had technical difficulties for an entire day and the website was down? Does it count that I managed to work in "third nipple" and "vaginal reconstruction" three days in row?

That TOTALLY counts. Right?

Totally.

[sgazzetti]

For the record, I blame you for this whole thing. I am pretty sure that I could have lived blissfully on without ever hearing of this thing if I hadn't stumbled by in late October. Bastard.

I do concur with what you say about the positive effects, though. It's good to under-edit for a change.

Isn't it a felony to publish pictures of KISS without their makeup on?

[kerewin]

I feel really rejuvinated by it as well! When I first started my blog I had so many stories to tell, so much history, so much current and then, it just seemed to dry up. Now, being forced to post every day has greased those wheels and suddenly I have lots of old history to talk about as well as a bunch of silly new stuff.

Or maybe I just really suck as a writer and it just seems like the words flow.

sgazzetti, isn't it a felony to actually KNOW that is KISS w/o their makeup on?

[abilicious]

I'm with sgazzetti: LOD, this is ALL YOUR FAULT. I never would've known about BlopMonth if it weren't for your stupid, addictive blog. I'm definitely in the throes of a mid-month slump; I'm hoping I'll get a second wind here pretty soon, because my posts can't get much lamer, and any day now I'll start throwing X-acto knives at my computer screen.

[LOD]

Hey. Whoa. No one's throwing knives at KISS. My cousins and I used to rock out to Alive! religiously. It's one of the main reasons their bedroom was relocated above their garage.

KISS was a major influence on my strange youth. Quiet Riot, OTOH, was not.

[Jaime]

Amen. (About the benefits of this month - I'm not getting into the Kiss/Quiet Riot fray.) I've had a couple of weekend days of empty calorie posting, but mostly it's just getting my writing flowing. I write about theatre a lot on my blog, and worry about keeping everyone, interested in theatre or not, satisfied. This month, though, I've stopped worrying about too many theatre posts, or not enough, and I'm just writing. It's feeling good.

[creative-type dad]

I'm not sure if KISS likes knives thrown at them.
They use them for lines on the coffee table and don't want to go searching for them behind a sofa.

[dutch from sweet juniper]

I now have a new hairstyle to aspire to. dude second from the right.

[Helen]

Well, I'm not writing, but I'm enjoying reading. I'm glad the inner censor is out of commission because the posts are a little sillier and fun to read. Or sometimes sillier but always fun to read. Anyway, it's been nice to know there's going to be a new one every day.

[RJA]

It is exciting, though exhausting trying to come up with an actual, readable post every damn day. And I fear my kids are tired of me forcing them into scenarios for my own amusement and for the material.